Visual progress

Matt had two days to put in some work last week and was able to push a few things forward that have more visual impact than plumbing or wiring. ;) Most exciting is the framing at the fireplace area to prepare for installation of the unit next Monday. Matt enjoys framing (after all, it IS the most instantly rewarding part of any construction project, as you go from nothing to something!), so it was good for him to have this to do since for time and size reasons we hired someone to do the framing of the main structure of the house.

 As usual, Reuben was anxious for any opportunity to help Daddy "bum bum" and was happy to spend some time helping him.

(Reuben just walked past the computer as I'm working on this, and commented, "Bum bum! Daddy!")

 We're still having issues with the upper level radiant heat (installed under the subfloor instead of in the concrete slabs) making a lot of noise when the water cycles - those tubes expand and contract a LOT and they squeak when they do! On this particular day Matt was experimenting with raising the temperature so the difference between the target temp and the water temp wasn't so high, so the addition was nice and warm, and the floors were quite lovely for being on. This meant that Krassi and I were able to spend some time out watching them work! Notice that I'm just in socks, because even though it's still dusty out there, the warm floor feels SO GOOD on sock feet that it seemed a waste to slip my shoes on!

Krassi is learning to ham for the camera. ;)

The next day, Chad had some time to come over and help Matt put the sheetrock (required for fireproofing) up inside the fireplace cavity, and together they framed up the front (roomside) wall of the fireplace. The lower rectangle on the right is where the fireplace will go, though it won't start that low or go that high - the opening just needs to be framed that size for the unit. (You can look here for the CAD drawing of the final proportions - its the very last image in the post. Please notice the optimism if you read the whole post, about how close we are to being ready to sheetrock. Hmmm. Still not there.)

And then, since they were working with sheetrock, they decided to throw up a few more pieces just for good measure.

So now the ceiling of the stair down to the entry landing...

...and the ceiling of the stair down to the basement...

...and the office (minus one narrow strip) all have sheetrock!

Then there was just enough time before Chad had to go that they were able to hang the air-to-air heat exchanger in the mechanical room (which will provide fresh air from the outside pre-heated by the inside air being exhausted and will provide air circulation within the house that happens automatically with a forced air heat system). This is doubly exciting to me because 1) now that big box is out of the existing basement!! Yay! growing pregnant belly now has more room to maneuver laundry down to the washer and back upstairs again! and 2) because it's one more thing up...and something that I'm just not capable (for height and other reasons) to help Matt lift it up into place.

Every Tuesday I hit another "week" marker in this pregnancy (32 this week), and it becomes increasingly likely that we will not be ready to have Matt's mom move in before the baby is born. For a number of weeks earlier this year, I realized that I was becoming increasingly bothered by this. About a week and a half ago I was reading the end of Daniel (of all places) and there was something about the way those last chapters describe in such a matter-of-fact way the still-future rise and fall of national powers and destruction and transitions that I was reminded freshly that God has his hand in the timing of all things, and HE can look at it all calmly. In so many ways throughout the past year and a half, God has showed us that he is intimately in control of the timing of how the plans laid out for us are progressing. Only some of those things have been shared on this blog, and there have been plenty - like the "Go" and then the gap of waiting, during which time we were able to care for Matt's dad as he lost his life to cancer. Or the rush rush rush to get Krassi's paperwork in so we could get his adoption finalized before the 6 week court break in Bulgaria, and getting that done before the break! He was ours! But then one tiny glitch in his birth certificate resulted in a long six-week additional wait before we could get him after all. It was during that time, of course, that we found out that we were expecting this Baby, and I was NOT feeling well at all until days before our new (six weeks later) travel date.

Such a little thing, but it has been SO good to have this shift from increasing concern and pressure about timing to now more just wondering what we're going to see happen here. In my mind, I still can't figure out what could possibly be good about delaying that move any longer than it's already been delayed, so I have to just decide to trust that it is. But I must admit I'm curious.